Laura

Laura (1944)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: (mostly) Otto Preminger

Starring: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Vincent Price, Clifton Webb, Judith Anderson

From: 20th Century Fox

By the by, I do comprehend why several men fall for the title character.

I already know that this will be leaving the Criterion Channel at the end of January; besides not waiting until the final day or two, checking out something highly rated to start the new year seemed like a logical course of action. Thank heavens this was even better than expected, something I rate as great overall and not just compared to other film noir.

The title character is murdered even before the movie starts, and Dana Andrews is a police detective now in charge of the case. He interviews various people... from a charming A-hole (but still an A-hole) older guys who became pals w/ Laura to her bumpkin fiance-played by Vincent Price in what I presume is his best non-horror role-and of course there are various surprises along the way. Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney do well with the roles they were given although it was Clifton Webb as the haughty jerk and Price who stand out in flashier more layered parts. The movie is not the most realistic-after all, do cops typically let murder suspects tag along w/ them as they interview other suspects? Yet to me and many others that is irrelevant for the story-instead it is enjoying the ride and seeing various different personalities interacting w/ each other.

It's a movie credited to the legendary Otto Preminger although originally he was just the producer; however, what original director Rouben Mamoulian created did rather poorly in test screenings so Preminger reshot plenty of scenes and even changed various sets. Laura (the movie) perhaps should not work as well as it does, yet due to sheer luck or perhaps all the talent involved, what resulted was something that at the very least is likely to appeal to to the typical noir fan even if it does not fit into some of the typical genre stereotypes, such as dark shadows or the interplay between light and shadow, although there's still the detective, some brief narration and flashbacks... it fits. Maybe the biggest miracle was that the motion picture pulled off the feat of making Andrews falling in love w/ a recently deceased woman not as creepy or disturbing as it probably originally sounds from description.